How meditation benefits the mind and body

Whether you practice mindful or focused attention meditation, your mind and body can benefit from some of it! Here are some benefits of adding meditation to your daily routine:

Enhanced Focus

Meditation involves focusing attention to heighten awareness. After a meditation session, expect your focus to hone in on what matters. Whether you mediate before working on a complex work project or before a big sporting competition, your mind should zoom in on the task at hand.

Don’t Worry, Be Happy

The more you meditate, the less you worry. Researchers attribute decreased anxiety to meditation because of the new connections of specific neural pathways in the brain. Meditation also relaxes your muscles, which tend to tense up during moments of acute anxiety.

Unleashes Creativity

Some of the greatest artists have meditated before tackling their masterpieces. Leiden University researchers in the Netherlands discovered that people who practiced open-monitoring meditation implemented new ideas on uncompleted tasks. The study indicated that when we relax the brain, we open the door to creative ideas.

Heart of the Matter

Several research studies have linked improved heart health to meditation. Moreover, meditating every day helps lower blood pressure, although the drop occurs over an extended period. Meditation involves the slowing down of the mind, which in turn, slows down the rate of the heart and places less stress on the circulatory system.

Bolsters Immune System

A study that tested the effect meditation has on preventing illness and infection unveiled an interesting result. Two study groups received flu shots. Volunteers that meditated for eight weeks released more antibodies to fight off the flu than the antibodies released by a volunteer group that did not meditate at all. Other research studies indicate meditation fights off infectious diseases that affect people that do not meditate.

Once considered a simply a practice performed by monks, meditation has emerged as a viable strategy for enhancing both the body and mind.